Community for Changes KELLY GALLAHER wrote this wonderful summation on Rep. Paul Ryan's dystopian vision of a Republican America in the Journal Times.
The past few weeks have been very exciting for Congressman Paul Ryan. The attention continued with the unveiling of his budget plan called "A Roadmap for America's Future 2.0." Ryan's budget was initially regarded as a serious effort to propose a counterpoint to the administration's 2010 budget. That is, until people read it.
Congressman Ryan's limelight became a glaring spotlight when closer examination revealed the Roadmap for America's Future sought to radically dismantle Medicare by replacing the current system with vouchers and replace a traditional safety net with a sweeping effort to privatize Social Security for Americans younger than 55. His plan would undermine the security of these programs for millions of Americans and subject them to the volatility of Wall Street and unabated greed of corporate health care. Nobel Prize economist Paul Krugman called it a "breathtaking act of staggering hypocrisy." GOP members staking their future campaigns on protecting Medicare and Social Security scattered.
Then came the Wall Street Journal that singled out Ryan this past week for his hypocrisy in slamming the stimulus plan … Ryan called the stimulus a "wasteful spending spree" while requesting these same funds in October ... How does a program like the stimulus that "misses the mark on all counts" and "hasn't created the jobs" also manage to "propose to develop an industry- driven training and placement agenda that intends to place 1,000 workers in green jobs" as he stated in his stimulus request? Easy, it's called dishonesty. In December, Ryan called for the repeal of the Recovery Act even though his own hometown of Janesville had received more than $4 million of stimulus money for jobs and new programs.
Erroneously characterized as a "deficit hawk," … Ryan voted for record spending, unfunded tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, the bank bailouts and trillion-dollar wars which created our deficit nightmare. Also called a policy "wonk," Ryan championed unsustainable expansions of Medicare Advantage, resulting in billions of overpayments while he seeks to create a policy to dismantle Medicare and Social Security for Americans long after he's gone from office.
He has mystified conservatives as well. In response to his votes in favor of the auto bailout and the AIG confiscatory bonus tax, even conservative pundit Michelle Malkin was moved to scold him to "practice what you preach when it matters. Not after the fact."
When questioned about his vote on the auto bailout just last week to Daily Beast writer Benjamin Sarlin, Ryan confessed he was moved to vote for it not to keep autoworkers employed, but because he believed "that a second Depression would threaten capitalism - and rescue Obama's presidency."
Congressman Ryan has been practicing the most cynical kind of political hypocrisy and hoping we would not notice … his constituents must hold him accountable.
However, it has also given us the opportunity to look deeper into what the future would look like if many in the GOP had their way. Ryan perhaps said it best in a recent interview with the New York Times, "I'm worried that if we get the majority back by default, we'll screw up again." On that, we can both agree.
The past few weeks have been very exciting for Congressman Paul Ryan. The attention continued with the unveiling of his budget plan called "A Roadmap for America's Future 2.0." Ryan's budget was initially regarded as a serious effort to propose a counterpoint to the administration's 2010 budget. That is, until people read it.
Congressman Ryan's limelight became a glaring spotlight when closer examination revealed the Roadmap for America's Future sought to radically dismantle Medicare by replacing the current system with vouchers and replace a traditional safety net with a sweeping effort to privatize Social Security for Americans younger than 55. His plan would undermine the security of these programs for millions of Americans and subject them to the volatility of Wall Street and unabated greed of corporate health care. Nobel Prize economist Paul Krugman called it a "breathtaking act of staggering hypocrisy." GOP members staking their future campaigns on protecting Medicare and Social Security scattered.
Then came the Wall Street Journal that singled out Ryan this past week for his hypocrisy in slamming the stimulus plan … Ryan called the stimulus a "wasteful spending spree" while requesting these same funds in October ... How does a program like the stimulus that "misses the mark on all counts" and "hasn't created the jobs" also manage to "propose to develop an industry- driven training and placement agenda that intends to place 1,000 workers in green jobs" as he stated in his stimulus request? Easy, it's called dishonesty. In December, Ryan called for the repeal of the Recovery Act even though his own hometown of Janesville had received more than $4 million of stimulus money for jobs and new programs.
Erroneously characterized as a "deficit hawk," … Ryan voted for record spending, unfunded tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, the bank bailouts and trillion-dollar wars which created our deficit nightmare. Also called a policy "wonk," Ryan championed unsustainable expansions of Medicare Advantage, resulting in billions of overpayments while he seeks to create a policy to dismantle Medicare and Social Security for Americans long after he's gone from office.
He has mystified conservatives as well. In response to his votes in favor of the auto bailout and the AIG confiscatory bonus tax, even conservative pundit Michelle Malkin was moved to scold him to "practice what you preach when it matters. Not after the fact."
When questioned about his vote on the auto bailout just last week to Daily Beast writer Benjamin Sarlin, Ryan confessed he was moved to vote for it not to keep autoworkers employed, but because he believed "that a second Depression would threaten capitalism - and rescue Obama's presidency."
Congressman Ryan has been practicing the most cynical kind of political hypocrisy and hoping we would not notice … his constituents must hold him accountable.
However, it has also given us the opportunity to look deeper into what the future would look like if many in the GOP had their way. Ryan perhaps said it best in a recent interview with the New York Times, "I'm worried that if we get the majority back by default, we'll screw up again." On that, we can both agree.
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